Yet, like the biblical Satan – the once powerful and beautiful fallen angel – some generals are tempting us towards the abyss again. This would have been the same thing that happened in Liberia where Chieftain Charles Taylor – who rots in a jail at The Hague – took a country to the hell of malediction.
I am worried about all the talk for 2022 that’s coming out of DP William Ruto and his camp. Every person needs to dream and reach for the skies, but my concern is that while Mr. Ruto is entitled to run for President – every day of the week and twice on Sundays – there’s something amiss.
The language that he and his adherents deploy is either bigoted or outright intimidation or harassment. Plain threats are woven in his campaign. He wants to clear the field of all worthy competitors and smother his opponents with the kamuti [deadly Kamba witchcraft] of Harambee. His motto – if you won’t submit, I will stuff money in your mouth.
Which means politics isn’t child’s play. In fragile societies – and Kenya is one – politics should be approached carefully. We saw what happened in 2008 after elections the previous year. We saw what almost happened after the debacle of elections last year.
Luos have no problem with Uhuru-Raila handshake,
but are restless when @KBonimtetezi and DP Ruto are working together.
When Bonny was with Raila, he was referred to as ‘bullfighter’, but when he’s with Ruto, he’s called names.
What makes Luos think all people should be for Rao?— jkkoros™ (@jkkoros) November 10, 2018
Luckily for Kenya – I know some are deeply unhappy about this – Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga decided to take the road to Damascus. Like the biblical Paul, the two behemoths of Kenyan politics sought salvation. They avoided turning the ignition key to Kenya’s political bomb. The fight between the two would’ve trampled mwananchi underfoot, that’s why the ‘HANDSHAKE’ was momentous.
To be sure, I don’t want to put all the blame on DP Ruto; He isn’t alone in committing this sin. But he and his lieutenants are the most disputatious. Senator Kipchumba Murkomen has anointed himself DP Ruto’s wheel-dealer. He thwacks DP’s detractors like flies. He’s forgotten what the Constitution teaches, although he’s a “learned friend.”
Like a dragon, he spits fire at enemies, far and near. Like a viper, he shoots poison at you if you so much as look at DP Ruto sideways. Which begs the question – what would Mr. Murkomen do to protect Mr. Ruto if the latter ascended to State House? Would we be forced to live in hiding?
To his credit, President Uhuru has put his foot down and told Kenyans – especially Mr. Ruto’s boosters among the Agikuyu – to pipe down and instead work for the electorate. Last week, DP Ruto’s errand boys and girls in the Mt. Kenya region took a supplicant’s petition – professedly on behalf of DP Ruto – to Uhuru at the statehouse.
Instead, the President cut the diverse crew to size. In a stunner – defying a narrative advanced by Ruto’s men and women – Mr. Kenyatta told the assembled peonage that he will shock them with his pick for successor when the time comes.
African states have been destroyed by men with blind ambition. Every African state that failed, or collapsed, was brought to its knees by a megalomaniac.
With the congregation of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA) Gaaki Parish, Tetu, Nyeri County. pic.twitter.com/USSPso5H89
— William Samoei Ruto (@WilliamsRuto) November 11, 2018
Think of Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, Mengistu Haile Mariam of Ethiopia, Siad Barre in Somalia, Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga of Zaire, today’s DRC. His name said it all – no imagination needed, Samuel Kanyon Doe of Liberia, The list is as long as the damned wreckage of African states.